Intraordinary Travels: The Solo Picnic Trip
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As a solo traveller and wanderluster, I must confess that I got very sad (almost depressed) with the thought of not being able to travel outside international or national borders for the forseeable future and I have somehow began making contingency plans for the summer holidays. And by that, I mean I have been thinking of making a contingency plan.
Although this blog post is not exactly going to tell you how to plan a successful 3-day city break, it will show you how to plan a kind of a trip - a solo picnic trip.
The inspiration for this trip came two days ago, at a time when the whole of London (maybe even England) basked in a week of glorious warm summer days, I was stuck at home wondering how to make the most of the summer days. I knew I wanted to be out there like everyone else but my usual walk through the park would not be enough. Apart from that, I began feeling incredibly lonely the week before for reasons which I will cover in another blog post.
As a way to overcome these feelings of loneliness, I decided to beat down these feelings of loneliness by challenging it head on. My winning statement 'I can be happy while alone '. So rather than feel sorry for myself, I decided to go for a picnic by myself at the weekend. Why? I love the idea of picnics...sitting in a quiet green space, enjoying the intimate company of friends but I only remember having such a picnic once in my entire life. So if this is something that I enjoyed, why not do it; even if by myself.
On Saturday, I went to a local Tesco and bought some treats for the picnic. I got some fruits, a sandwich, quiche, homous, a pack of crisp (potato chips if you're American), some munchies (haribo supermix and a bar of chocolate 🍫). I also made sure I bought a 500ml or 750ml bottle of water because I knew I would do a lot of walking. I stared at the wine section wondering which I should pick, but then I remembered that my plan wasn't just to enjoy walks in the park or catch up on some reading. I actually wanted some time with God in a beautiful serene environment that wasn't as restrictive as the four walls of my room. So no wine it was. Food ☑
Once I got my food supplies, I needed a location and I knew the perfect place. I searched up parks in Surrey, close to my old secondary school in Coulsdon and chose one which looked quite secluded but had a few locals businesses like a co-op and a pub close to it.That was step 2 done. Location ☑
With location sorted I looked at possible routes to get there and chose a bus,train and bus route. I didn't really consider the cost, I chose it for the sake of reliving my secondary school days. In any case, it makes sense to plan your journey based on the time-cost factor or journey duration and journey cost factor. I didn't for reasons of which I have explained. Transportation ☑
My picnic items included ☑:
- Food and drink(s)
- Glasses/cups, paper plates if needed and cutlery (spoons, forks, knives, serviettes or paper towels)
- Hand sanitiser
- A book to read
- A notebook or journal with a PEN!
- Sunglasses
- Headphones/earphones
- My kindle (which has 5 e-books in it)
- A beach towel to sit on - you may use a yoga mat, a blanket or any type of large mat to sit/lay on
- A scarf and a jacket
- Comfortable trainers and possibly spare cosy socks for chilling on the mat.
- A Bluetooth speaker and
- A fully-charged power bank
Consider bringing some other things listed below. These were some things I could have brought along.
For a solo picnic, you can include the following:
- A laptop if you need to catch up on work (hopefully not)
- A digital camera/DSLR camera 📷 or
- A Polaroid / Fujifilm instant print camera to capture the moments and view them instantly
- Some workout tools: portable weights, resistance bands etc
- Binoculars - for bird watching
- A frisbee, yoyo, rubik's cube, hula-hoop (good luck carrying that) or small ball or balloon that you can play with individually or share with others.
- A colouring book for mindfulness, crossword puzzle book, sudoku, jigsaw puzzles, chess boards / snake and ladders etc
- Or a magazine
- A small pillow or cushion, just in case you want to lie down and rest a bit
- A blanket to aid the resting part.
As you can probably tell from my pictures, I had a lovely quiet time and didn't feel the slightest bit strange about sitting alone in the park. Which was one of the reasons which kept me from going out to enjoy the wonderful weather I spoke about earlier.
The solo picnic trip is not strange at all, it is liberating and fun and single ladies like me should definitely take the opportunity to date themselves and relax in the open air.
Till next time,
Happy living xoxo
Enjoy my snaps of the day below
Well done Miss. Yes one can be happy alone ☺
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